Company Name
JOOLA
Search Job Title
Director, Softline Products
Client Profile
A small and growing company that manufactures sporting equipment and apparel, specifically for table tennis and pickleball.
Role Objectives & Challenges
After becoming an industry leader in the table tennis world, the company decided to branch into pickleball. They were specifically looking for someone to reinvigorate their apparel and accessories line. Ideally, they needed a candidate who had prior experience in the athletic apparel industry so that they would already have a deep technical understanding of the relevant fabrics and fits.
Our Approach to Solve the Search
We targeted apparel companies in the area, both athletic and non-athletic. Our goal was to find someone who had both the strategic sourcing skillset as well as the technical design knowledge to improve and expand their soft lines category. After an initial round of sourcing and conversations, we doubled down on focusing on athletic apparel companies given the unique challenges of this role. We also wanted to ensure that we found someone who could operate well in a smaller company where they would need to wear different hats and develop creative solutions without having the buying power of a large organization.
The Hire & Results
We placed a highly qualified candidate out of the athletic apparel world who could hit the ground running with their soft lines category. She had a strong blend of sourcing and design expertise to set up the organization for success.
